Wireless phone systems have been implemented using a Time-Division Multiple Access (TDMA) or Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) architecture. The Electronics Industries Association (EIA) and the Telecommunications Industries Association (TIA) have set standards for an American Digital Cellular (ADC) architecture, which is a dual mode analog and digital system following EIA/TIA document IS-54B. However, different standards have been promulgated for digital cellular phone systems in Europe.
Typically, a wireless cellular telephone user subscribes to one service provider and is assigned a corresponding telephone number. Thus, when the user uses the cellular phone in one geographical location, the user is unable to use the cellular phone in another geographical location without incurring excessive costs. Further, certain cellular phones are adapted to receive a credit-card sized Subscriber Identity Module (SIM). However, the SIM card is able to operate through a specific local provider only, and is not capable of being programmed to store a protocol from a different provider. Further, the SIM cards are not re-programmable.
The user who uses the cellular phone through a telecommunications carrier (“provider”) providing telecommunications transmission services in the United States, for instance, may travel to a country in Europe where the provider in the United States does not provide service to the cellular phone in Europe. A reason why the cellular phone set up in the United States cannot work in Europe is because the CDMA architecture or the TDMA architecture used in the United States and the GSM system used in Europe use different standards of cellular architecture and are different base systems. Accordingly, the user is required to either purchase a handset that is configured to use the TDMA architecture or the SIM card. There is a need for a system that allows a user to operate a cellular phone in accordance with a protocol of a telecommunications provider corresponding to a geographical region.